1949 MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash

On 2 July 1949 a Douglas DC-3 aircraft departed from Perth Airport for a night flight of 441 nmi to Carnarvon. The aircraft climbed to a height of about 500 ft and then spiralled almost vertically to the ground, killing all 18 people on board. It crashed about 1 mi north of Perth Airport and burned for over one hour. At the time, it was the worst civil aviation accident in Western Australia.

The flight

The aircraft was the airliner Fitzroy, registered VH-MME and operated by MacRobertson Miller Aviation. On 2 July 1949 it was about to conduct the regular passenger service from Perth to Darwin which departed about 2 am to allow passengers to connect with the twice-weekly Sydney to London flight operated by Qantas. The first stop was to be Carnarvon. On board were three pilots, an air hostess and 14 passengers. The aircraft took off at 2:14 am in driving rain. Visibility was about 10 mi.

The aircraft climbed unusually quickly after it left the runway. It was observed to climb to a height of about 500 ft and then roll and spiral vertically to the ground.

The aircraft crashed in a clear area between huts at the South Guildford housing camp, a former Army camp where 70 huts were being used to house civilians. As a result of the aircraft diving vertically to the ground, the wreckage was mostly confined within an area that was no larger than 60 x 60 ft. The aircraft narrowly missed the surrounding huts with wreckage coming to within 12 ft of one hut, and within 5 paces of the front verandah of another. One propeller was found about 210 ft from the wreckage.

An intense fire erupted inside the fuselage. The first fire-fighting equipment to reach the site was the fire tender from the airport, crewed by one fireman only. The fireman laid a foam blanket around the burning wreckage and sprayed foam on the fire. He used all the foam without extinguishing the flames. Two other fire tenders from neighbouring areas arrived to assist. It was 90 minutes before the fire was extinguished.

After sunrise, police, firemen and undertakers worked for an hour to remove the bodies of the 18 people killed in the accident. All the bodies were burned beyond recognition. Several of the bodies were still sitting in an upright position. The bodies of the three pilots in the cockpit were half-buried under a mass of charred newspaper. The aircraft was carrying the Perth daily newspaper to towns in the north-west of the state. Police and two officers from the Department of Civil Aviation sifted through the wreckage in the rain, searching for items to help identify the victims and for clues as to the likely cause of the tragedy.